Uncontrollable Nuclear Power Accidents and Fatal Environmental Harm: Why We Have Not Been Ready for the Impacts of Climate Change

Abstract

In Japan the big earthquake and tsunami on the 11th of March 2011 triggered a major nuclear power plant accident, which has caused and will continue to cause tremendous damage and harm. This “accident”, however, is not a natural disaster but a human-made disaster and can be appreciated as one of the most serious crimes committed by the state-corporate complex in Japan’s history. From the point of view of climate change, we can anticipate many more natural disasters such as tsunami and cyclones as the earth warms up and new climatic conditions emerge. In the midst of more frequent and more intense climate related events, it is essential that people everywhere be prepared for the potential advent and devastating aftermath of profound natural disasters of this kind. Yet, as this chapter demonstrates, certain vested interests in the corporate sphere and the state arena are already stifling adequate knowledge, discussion and action around these sorts of questions. Insofar as this remains the case, substantive measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change will accordingly be diminished.

This paper is part of “the research on global environmental crises and complexity green criminology”, Grant-in-Aid of Scientific Research (c) 2008–2011, and is based on the presentation at the 11th Annual Conference of European Society of Criminology, Vilnius, Lithuania, 21–24 September 2011.